Céline Roustan
Ida travels to a resort town in Jordan, hoping to make sense of her partner’s unexpected death. Seeking to process her grief, she immerses herself in a place he once belonged. In his second short, The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry, writer/director Faris Alrjoob paints a portrait of love through the lens of loss and emptiness. With striking cinematography the film transports its viewers to the Jordanian coast of the Red Sea, reflecting the protagonist’s poignant emotional journey.
“You quickly realize it’s not about the milk – they’re playing out the final act of their love”
Co-written with Matthew LaPaglia, the film was sparked by a short story that LaPaglia shared with Alrjoob. In the story, a couple fights over rotten milk in their kitchen – “you quickly realize it’s not about the milk – they’re playing out the final act of their love”, Alrjoob explained. Adding that he felt “a visceral familiarity to that conversation, to that dance between tenderness and cruelty”. From that emotional landscape, the pair began shaping the short’s narrative – “that bottle of milk in their afternoon kitchen became the seed for this film”.
The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry is both a love story between Ida and the ghost of Ismail, and a film following a protagonist who is on a quest, desperately looking for answers in an unfamiliar world. We can feel that Ismail should have been by her side on this trip, showing her around this place he once called home – his absence undeniably ubiquitous and palpable through every frame. Aljroob weaves an eerie thriller tone through his film, conveying the complexity and nuances of the narrative, and building a universe that is isolated from the real world, mirroring the emotional limbo Ida finds herself in.
Clara Schwinning delivers an outstanding performance as Ida in The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry
Shot on film, the visual flair of the film complements the narrative perfectly. With DP Mahmoud Belakhel, Alrjoob places Ida in this emptiness of this almost deserted town, allowing her to wander around the frame, feeling the weight of Ismail’s absence. The 16mm enhances the sun-stricken, desert atmosphere and helps create a quiet melancholy, which builds-up as we go from one location to the next. Subtly, the film depicts a last goodbye, compellingly bringing the depth of its emotional baggage to the screen.
As Ida, Clara Schwinning delivers a mesmerizing performance, embodying grief with remarkable restraint. With very few lines, she reveals the layers of her character, trying to stay strong while overwhelmed with loss. Her screen presence is as captivating as it is full of depth. The more we watch her getting acquainted with this town, the more we get to see the emotional nuances she is breathing into her character. The quiet intensity of the last scene relies on her acting skills, and she rises to the occasion delivering a powerful yet sensitive climax to the film, which is both gut-punching and heart-breaking
The Red Sea Makes Me Wanna Cry had its World Premiere at the 2023 edition of the Director’s Fortnight, before being selected at multiple other festivals including the Palm Springs ShortFest, Montreal’s FNC and the El Gouna Film Festival – where it was awarded the Silver Star. Alrjoob, managed by 75East, is currently developing his first feature.